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[ZImbabwe, Harare, ACNS] Churches in Zimbabwe have been urged to take steps to help curb the cholera outbreak in the country. Yesterday (Thursday), the country’s Health Minister, Obadiah Moyo, told journalists that there were 3,766 cases of cholera in the outbreak; whuch had claimed 25 lives. The World Health Organisation (WHI) said the disease was spreading rapidly in the capital Harare.

“Churches are faced with a special challenge, because they gather thousands of people every week and it is in such gatherings that the spread of the pandemic can be accelerated,” Dr Dr Kenneth Mtata, the General Secretary of the national ecumenical group the Zimbabwe Council of Churches said. “So the Church is being called to cooperate with the instructions coming from the Ministry of Health and all those who are working to curb the spread of the pandemic.

“The Church will also need to act as a catalyst for the broader healing of the nation,” he said, “When the first outbreak came out in 2008, it was a reflection not only on how the failing systems was panning out in urban areas, but also on the health of our politics.”

Dr Mtata warned that the outbreak was not a time to play politics and place the responsibility on the political party of the minister of health "I think that is short sighted,” he said. This is not a time for us to score political goals. It is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that as Zimbabweans it is possible for us to go beyond our political positions and remember the words of the Apostle Paul: that when one part of the body is in pain, the rest of the body is in pain with it.”